Rain

The heavy downpour yesterday was such a dampener of spirits as at least two sporting events were badly affected.

I drove all the way to Lapu-Lapu City from my residence down south to be at the Cebu Pistol and Rifle Association (CPRA) range for the RVO (Rogelio ‘Jingjing’ V. Osmeña) Memorial Cup.

I made a promise not to miss the event so despite the heavy rain I persisted and reached the range where most of the people, who were there – mostly Range and Safety Officers, were huddled at the covered area.

Although I did not get a chance to catch the action, I felt better when I got there knowing that I was in the company of people, who were also there to relive the wonderful times we had when Jingjing was around and at the helm of the CPRA.

Amparo, Jingjing’s daughter, was also there yesterday eagerly waiting to get a chance to shoot. She told me that she recently learned to shoot using a caliber .45 for the memory of her dad.

Jingjing was often misunderstood by many, but there is one group of people who love the man for all that he did for their sport – the shooters.

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The major backers of the RVO Memorial Cup are Trust Trade, friends of Jingjing, and Armscor.

Minor sponsors are Yasco, Premacor, Coca-Cola, Pasajero, Casino Filipino-Cebu, West Coast Solutions, North Consolidated, Hyundai, Super Great Truck, Alpha Source, Dakay Construction and Development Corp., Roble Shipping, Shemberg, Federal North Hardware, Greenworld LED Solutions, and Republic Corrugated Cartons.

Amparo also informed me that NS Gun Glub, Kamagong Gun Club and Sharky’s Gun Club helped set up the range for the event.

I hope there would be better weather today.

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Another event that had its participants soaked was the Sacred Heart School-Jesuits Batch ’85 Eagles Golf Tournament at the Cebu Country Club.

The weather made it quite hard to play, but I’m sure that two of my closest friends managed to score under-par despite the tough conditions.

The tournament offered a lot of prizes both for hole-in-one and in the raffles with a promise that even if a player is absent, he is still eligible to win a prize.

We don’t have too many events like this anymore.

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Another reason to feel blue these days is the fact that the Philippines will not have a home game in the semifinals of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup. The reason is that we don’t have a stadium that passes the standards set by the governing body.

What a shame. I know of many eager to fly to either Manila or Bacolod to watch the Azkals play Indonesia, but now they’ll have to fly to Jakarta to watch the game.

This is another wake up call. We actually have had too many wake up calls, but many continue to pretend that they’re still sound asleep.

As the saying goes, “the hardest people to waken are those who are pretending that they are asleep.”

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings to my aunt Ofelia F. Quiñones, who turns another year older today.

The same goes to my classmates Kerrwin O. Sanchez, Dr. Claudia Cabrera-Rafanan, and Loreta Lauron as well as to Dr. Joseph Burt Ruedas and my Tao sister Angeli Saromines.

More power to all of you!